What separates humans from lemmings? Not much, evidently: Fear of bridge collapse set off Cambodia stampede. The death toll was more than 350. This, by the way, isn’t an isolated incident. For example, see this article from 2006, and this one from 2004.
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John B. spotted this: Obama’s Jeffersonian Muslim Revisionist Lie.
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It is not preparedness related, but watching the Gray Eagles P-51 Mustang video put a lump in my throat. (Thanks to Steve S. for sending the link.) I would have loved to have seen some details on how the wrecked P-51 was restored. (On a related note, the Glacier Girl P-38 recovery and restoration project has fascinated me ever since I first read of it. Just recovering the damaged P-38 from beneath 260 feet of ice was a monumental project, all by itself. Warbird aficionados will enjoy the book: The Lost Squadron: A Fleet of Warplanes Locked in Ice for Fifty Years
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This recent news story sounds like something out of a survivalist novel: Residents not returning to town hit by Mexico drug war. It begins: “Shell casings carpet the road outside a bullet-riddled subdivision on the outskirts of this colonial town on the Rio Grande Valley, abandoned by most of the 6,000 inhabitants following a nine-month battle by warring drug cartels.” Later in the article, we read: “Farther down the road, a restaurant owner pours his own collection on the counter: casings from an M-40 grenade launcher, and .50-caliber bullets. But that probably isn’t what scares the army, which has M-40 launchers and .50-calibers of its own. It’s what lies in the municipal impound lot that is truly frightening. The burned-out remains of five crudely armored pickup trucks and SUVs, with half-inch steel plate welded over most of the windows, leaving only a narrow slit for the drug gunmen’s visibility and firing. It all looks like something out of a “Mad Max” movie. Farther outside of town lies a homemade tank that locals refer to in hushed tones as “The Monster.” “The Monster” was a 10-wheel gravel truck with a 5-yard (meter) freight box, entirely covered in 1-1/4-inch steel plate welded into the box to cover firing positions for about 10 gunmen. In the cab, the thick steel plate covered the engine, the windshield and the doors, punctuated by hinged covers for gun ports, and massive steel rams welded onto the prow of the craft.” (Our thanks to Jennifer H. for the link.) OBTW, to the best of my knowledge there is no such animal as an “M-40 grenade launcher”. I think the journalist must mean a 40mm grenade launcher–perhaps a Mk 19.)